I'll be BACK!

I had a nice long break for Thanksgiving, and I read an article titled, “Why the future doesn’t need us” which was published in Wired magazine and written by Billy Joy. Wired magazine is known to be an edgy tech magazine, which I am familiar with.

Billy Joy talks about (GNR) or genetics, nanotechnology and robotics and the destructiveness this can have on mankind. Joy compares GNR to (WMD) weapons of mass destruction, in terms of the power they can both produce. The biggest differences are that governments tightly hold the power to produce WMD’s, and one must not only need rare elements, but wealth and a great knowledge in specific scientific fields to create them. Where with this new technology, GNR, only requires someone with the knowledge, which can easily be attained on the Internet, and someone enough determination to want to destroy the world.

Joy has three main fears with technology and robotics and how this could possibly affect human life, as we know it. He fears that humans will gradually become robots, that robots will then slowly exterminate mankind, and that these new powerful robots will be controlled only by the rich and powerful, and can be used at their will to either take out competition or destroy the earth.

I truly believe technology will someday surpass our expectations, and I agree with some of the other contributors to this article that this change will happen gradually. It will happen so gradually that mankind will not be able to just stop using technology and robots, as we will rely so heavily on them that doing so would kill us. I have seen so many sci-fi movies as a child that references many of these scenarios playing out. A few that come to mind are, I, Robot, which is talked about in the article, and of course, the Terminator series. In the Terminator series, they build advance robots that then start to think on their own, and rationalize that humans are worthless, and try to exterminate them. I have always thought if this could ever happen to us and now that I am older, I can see how the advancements in technology could begin to come full circle and these scenarios playing out.

We already depend too heavily on technology today, and we are already at a point where we cannot just turn off technology without disrupting the entire world. It may not kill us, but some of us would feel dead. We don’t ever think of the implications new technology can have on us, we just want the best and newest ‘thing’ that will make our life even easier.

The point of this article is that Billy Joy fears the future and the changes that will come with it. He does compare this to a Pandora’s box scenario and I believe he has some valid points, and that we must be cautious moving forward. I don’t think robots will overtake us buy 2030, but the advancements we will see will truly be out of this world, and we must make sure we always remain in control.